Stranger in the Mirror
by Super Asian
Summary: Hermione's life crumbles, and she's never been the same since.


[A/N] Hello, this is just a one-shot type fic. Um, hope you like it.I wrote it during and in between classes during this past week at school. Enjoy. :]  
  
STRANGER IN THE MIRROR  
  
She looked in the mirror. The girl looking back at her wore tattered jeans, with knee-length, steel-toed boots underneath. A black t-shirt clung to her upper body almost like a second skin. A picture of a white cat with beady, red eyes was sitting, looking innocent with a paw pointed out was printed on her shirt, decorated with the words 'You're a Pussy' printed underneath. She had on a deep crimson lipstick on, with peach-blushed cheeks. Her eyes were shaded a dusky, smoky grey. Her hair was dyed a deep ebony with green streaks through it. She blinked, trying to hold back her tears.  
  
'Where did I go? Surely, this can't be me', she thought to herself. 'Where is the girl with deep chocolate hair and the bright smile? Where is the girl that wore neatly pressed blouses and knee-length skirts?' she frowned. She still couldn't believe that only last month she was still that girl she was yearning for. 'What even happened?' Her brow furrowed in thought. It was like a blur, that the memory seemed to almost go by as if someone pressed the fast forward button to her brain.  
  
***FLASHBACK***  
  
It was raining outside, just the kind of weather that made her forget everything. She sat on the window seat in her room and heaved a long sigh. 'I need to get out more." She changed into a pair of jeans and slipped on a navy blue shirt having the logo 'Old Navy' etched in white. She slipped on a pair of sneakers, grabbed a jacket, and headed out the door. She was almost immediately drenched from head to toe. She used the back of her hand to move the hair that was sticking slightly across her forehead. As she walked down the porch steps, she couldn't help but smile. There she was, feeling depressed as ever since her parents and just gotten a divorce. When her mother left, her younger brother, Philip, was forced to go with her. A tear rolled down her pale cheek, quickly lost between the raindrops. She turned to walk towards the end of her street, debating on which way to go. As her mind was contemplating, her feet were moving. After a minute, she made her decision and her lips curled downward starting a frown. She shrugged her shoulders and kept walking, quickly forgetting her disapproval.  
  
She continued for about twenty minutes until she reached her grandmother's house. The house that her mother and brother were residing in. she took a deep breath, and started forward. She reached the front door, but just as she lifted her knuckle to knock, a car was honking angrily at her. She turned around and instantly paled. Her father was there, eyes blazing with rage. Sheer pain wretched her heart; she conscience knew it was a bad idea. The last time she called her mother, she was backhanded. She slowly walked back towards the 1993 Camry, head cast downward, eyes threatening to spill with tears. As she opened the door to sit in the ivory-leather passenger's seat, she faced towards the house, afraid to look her father in the eyes.  
  
"I thought I told you that your mother wasn't a part of your life anymore! Are you that daft to actually miss her?!" he growled, a sneer forming on his once jovial lips. "Well? Answer me!" His hand shot out and took a swing at the back of her head. She wasn't aware of his outstretched hand until it was too late. Her head few forward, crashing into the headboard. The pain in her head was immense, but didn't even amount to the despair she had in her heart.  
  
"I'm sorry.I.I wasn't thinking," she mumbled, muffled out by that choking feeling she was used to from her many nights crying. She tried not to cry, though. She couldn't let him know that he'd gotten to her. She shut her eyes tightly after she said this, though, waiting for the next blow to come. It never did. Instead, he drove the car back to her house, the three blocked she had just walked.  
  
The ride home was quiet, but the silence was almost deafening. However, the car's engine couldn't bring her back to her thoughts. As the Camry rolled to a smooth stop in the driveway, she was pulled out of the silence by her father's voice.  
  
"Get out. Go to your room, pack, and leave. You obviously can't listen or obey; I don't want a daughter so defiant." He seemed so calm when he said this, but she didn't care to stay and find out.  
  
She bolted out of the car door and ran to her room. Her trunk was at the foot of her bed, and she threw were drawers open. She threw all of her clothes in her trunk, wrinkles being her least of problems. She had tears flowing freely down her face, eyes already becoming red. She shoved all of her belongings in the remaining space of her trunk, putting all other things that didn't fit into a duffel bag. She ran to the front door, not wanting to see the living eyes of her father. She blasted the door open and ran, all the way until her aching limbs could move no more. She collapsed in the middle of the read, a car skidding to stop only centimeters away from her wracking body.  
  
The driver came out, a panic expression etched on his face. He saw the state she was in, and he felt a tinge of pity, but the feeling was gone as soon as it had come.  
  
"Are you okay?" He tried to seem indifferent, but when he saw the tears flooding over her eyes and down her flushed face, he ran away. It was her. The girl he had seen countless time laughing with her friends and getting better marks than him. He slowly turned back to face her, and he sneered. He was glad she was in pain, and he smirked sardonically.  
  
"Aww, ickle Ms. Know-it-all crying? Did your little utopia get destroyed? Or.maybe a disowning?" He quirked an eyebrow. That small statement just made a new set of tears to spill. Her body was shaking violently now from both the cold rain and hours of crying.  
  
"Go.pl.please. .please go away." she mumbled, almost to herself. He'd heard her though. Kicking himself for it, he put a foot out and stepped forward. By this point she had curled up in a fetal position on the cement, shivering as if she were inches from death.  
  
"Hey, I'm.I'm, er, uh, I didn't mean it like that, Gra-Hermione. Stop.stop crying." He really didn't like it when people cried, girls in particular. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she immediately stopped shaking and looked up. She grabbed the front of his shirt like nothing else mattered. He stumbled forward and he fell, right next to her. She looked into his eyes one more, her pain, loss, and loneliness shining through. He leaned in and gave her a small kiss on her temple. He realized what he did, stood up, and left.  
  
***END FLASHBACK***  
  
A tear rolled down her cheek, remembering that she'd moved into the Burrow with Ron. She hastily brushed the tear away, stepped away from the mirror, and went to leave for her suicidal father's funeral. Realizing what she still had on, she shrugged and grabbed the single bloody rose.  
  
'No point in dressing up for the unknown,' was her last thought before shutting the door.  
  
~*~*~ Fin ~*~*~  
  
[A/N] Now the fun part: Reviewing! Come on.it won't be that bad to spend like, 2 minutes telling me your thoughts.  
  
-Junghee 


End file.
